Shikha Dalmia on the Kandahar Killings and the Perils of Staying in Afghanistan

Neoconservative advocates of muscular nation building are portraying last weekend's killing spree in Kandahar province as an anomalous act of a deranged individual that holds no broader lessons. They worry that the Obama administration will run for the exit door even before 2014, cutting short the time we have to bring stability, good government, and Nike shoes to this ravaged land. But the truth, writes Shikha Dalmia, is that this grisly event is emblematic of the perils of nation building.